Harry Potter: Prisoner of Azkaban
by Author Name Changed
Summary: AU, extremely little to do with canon. I mean it! Basically, Harry ends up in Azkaban, an abandoned prison built by dwarves and elves on another world. Wouldn't want to be in his shoes, it's deadly out there.
1. Disambiguation

**Disclaimer**: Jo Rowling owns Harry Potter & co. The rest of the stuff belongs to me. As I might have mentioned, this is very, very AU.

**Author**: zimagesto

Chapter Two: How to un-confuse the people reading this 

Harry James Dursley had been born in 1989 to Petunia and Vernon Dursley, but appearing to be rather the son of Petunia Dursley's sister and her husband, Lily and James Potter. This, of course, had created a lot of trouble for Petunia, who got yelled at for this quite a lot. It was only after awhile that Vernon would realize that James would never cheat on his wife.

Of course, at the beginning Vernon was very, _very_ pissed. So pissed, in fact, that when he declared the name of the child for registration, well…

"What will the name be, Mr. Dursley?" the woman behind the desk asked.

"Harry," Vernon stuttered, half-drunk. "Harry Dursley. Bloody James… Harry… James… you see, that bloody bastard slept with my wife."

The woman was disgusted by the whale-man and only wanted to finish up.

"Harry James Dursley, then?"

"Well, my wife would want it that way! Why not please her!" he said, pissed.

"Very well, then, sir," the woman said. "You may come back after the birth certificate in a few hours."

And, that was it. Harry _James_ Dursley. Well, later Vernon plucked his hear out of his head, but there wasn't much he could do, so he left it at that. And after a longer while, the spirits cooled and Lily and James were welcomed in the Dursley home again. Soon little Harry became very attached to his nice aunt and uncle and the two of them realized the potential the kid had in him and decided to bring him into the world of magic.

The Order of Hogwarts was one of the most powerful Orders in the world, basically one of the few magical communities around. It was a completely classified community that even the governments knew nothing about. It had its researchers in magical domains, its teachers and students, its special agents that did jobs here and there, many times used as special agents by various people, including kings and queens. Now, of course, those who hired them rarely knew exactly _how_ special the agents were, but it didn't matter.

Other things that were also studied where other worlds and magical creatures and beings. There were trades and truces and many types of relationships established by the Order of Hogwarts.

Of course, there were some that wanted to take the control of the world and to use everything that the Order created and researched for their own personal reasons. Those came up from time to time, sometimes disappeared without trace trying to become more powerful and never succeeding. Others were dangerous and required a sustained opposition.

But none of these were Harry Dursley's problem. He just studied more and more in the order, under the direct guidance of one Severus Snape, the Head of Slytherins (Slytherins were the ones in the Order who usually worked under cover in many places and they were well-known for their cunning and practical intelligence. There also were the Ravenclaws, well-known for being very intelligent and they were the ones who studied all type of phenomena and old texts and other such. Hufflepuffs were the ones who took care of the small things around the quarters, such as paperwork, keeping the rules straight, and usually mediating between different people. Social, loyal people, these Hufflepuffs. And of course, there were Gryffindors, who were a bit thick-headed sometimes, but they were ok with their friends. They were the ones usually sent out in recognition missions, the ones who entered social circles and gathered information, the ones who were sent out to impress people.)

Harry was quickly discovered of being more a Slytherin than anything else and he was fine with it. Slytherins were nice. Well, Gryffindors were nice also, after all, his uncle James Potter was a Gryffindor, as was the man's best friend, Sirius Black. Lilly Potter was a Slytherin and best friend of Severus Snape. But indeed, Slytherins were the cool-minded friends he always wanted. And Severus was great.

"You know what, Sev?" Harry had sighed after entering the room to the older man's quarters. "I really don't like my family."

"Not blaming you there." Severus had replied, carefully shaving. "But you _do_ look like that idiot James."

"Don't call my uncle an idiot!" Harry snapped. "He's a nice guy!"

"He was a real idiot while we were in schooling… and he still is, might I add."

"Why are you saying that?"

"Bully, arrogant, thick-headed and only with sports in his mind."

"Well, I like him! And I wish I was _his_ son, not Vernon's…" Harry spat. "I don't want to be a Dursley!"

Severus rolled his eyes and put the blade down, then grabbing a wet, hot towel and throwing on his face. When he got it off, he spoke again.

"Then don't be! And please shut up with your family, you're getting annoying."

"How can I not be?"

"Call yourself Potter and forget the connections or whatever. Yes, call yourself Harry James Potter and give us all a break."

"That's not a bad idea," Harry grinned.

"Well, I didn't mean it seriously…" Severus started, but then thought better of it. "But why not? You already look a lot like that bastard."

"Don't call my newly-adopted father a bastard!"

Severus snorted.

"So, why did you come here in the first place?…"

And well, this is the basics of our story here: Harry James Potter, son of the Dursleys (hehehe), was a student-member of the secret Order of Hogwarts and he was still studying…

Well, this is just about to change, thanks to those Ruler-of-the-World-Wannabes. Who even chose himself a dumb name. Voldemort. Who calls himself Voldemort, anyway?…

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Thanks to the ones who read and the one who reviewed, who convinced me that writing this chapter this way was a good thing. A few more reviews would be welcomed, though. Especially critique.


	2. The One Common Point with PoA

**Disclaimer**: The first… 4 paragraphs belong entirely to Jo Rowling (a few words missing, true…), as well as Harry Potter & co. The rest of the stuff belongs to me. As I might have mentioned, this is very, very AU.

**Author**: zimagesto

Chapter One 

Harry was a highly unusual boy in many ways. For one thing, he hated the summer holidays more than any other time of year. For another, he really wanted to do his homework but was forced to do it in secret, in the dead of night. And he also happened to be a wizard.

It was nearly midnight, and he was lying on his stomach in bed, the blankets drawn right over his head like a tent, a flashlight in one hand and a large leather-bound book (A History of Magic by Bathilda Bagshot) propped open against the pillow. Harry moved the tip of his eagle-feather quill down the page, frowning as he looked for something that would help him write his essay, "Witch Burning in the Fourteenth Century Was Completely Pointless discuss."

The quill paused at the top of a likely-looking paragraph. Harry Pushed his round glasses up the bridge of his nose, moved his flashlight closer to the book, and read:

"Non-magic people (more commonly known as Muggles) were particularly afraid of magic in medieval times, but not very good at recognizing it. On the rare occasion that they did catch a real witch or wizard, burning had no effect whatsoever. The witch or wizard would perform a basic Flame Freezing Charm and then pretend to shriek with pain while enjoying a gentle, tickling sensation. Indeed, Wendelin the Weird enjoyed being burned so much that she allowed herself to be caught no less than forty seven times in various disguises."

Harry snorted to himself. He already liked Wendelin, she had quite the humor, that one. Alas, she had the type of humor Severus had –he was writing that essay for him, by the way-, a humor that he quite appreciated. That sarcasm and irony, that way of looking at the stupid people critically…

"Mommy, daddy, I want to be like Sev when I grow up" Harry laughed to himself and decided he could use some fresh air. After all, the blanket-tent tended to be quite… suffocating.

He turned the flash-light off and threw the blanket off himself and climbed out of bed, listening to Dudley's infernal music as he did so. His one year older brother was absolutely impossible. Harry despised him, nearly as much as he despised his parents, _Vernon_ and _Petunia_. He didn't have too much against people, mind you, but his parents and brother were… horrible.

"Do you think he'll finally fail this year, hmm, Hedwig?" Harry asked the owl that was eating a rat on his windowsill with a mischievous smile. She just looked at him with a look that said 'well, of course. This time, not even a tone of gold can save him'. "You're right… the days when dad paid for his passing are over. Director Newman is getting quite pissed at whomever wants to fail him and doesn't because of some Dursley money."

The owl hooted softly as Harry walked towards the window and implicitly towards her and as he took a deep breath of fresh air.

"I wish I could turn on the lights without dad figuring out that I'm up" Harry said towards her. "But, you know how it is, right?"

He looked towards his right and saw his reflection in the mirror and smiled. He really liked the way he looked, seeming to be more than 16 in age. His raven-black pointy hair stuck up in all direction, making him look as if he'd just ran about a mile or so all the time. His very green eyes were sparkling with deviousness and power.

He had a medium height and he was lean, but muscular. The exercises he did always paid off. And he was by far the best-looking and most fit person in the house. After all, his brother, Dudley was about one tone fatter than him and he looked as if he could eat a whole cow at a meal, even now, after he started taking boxing lessons. His mom, Petunia, was skinny and tall and had a long horse-like neck and horse-like face. And dad… well, he was solid, but had no muscles to make him look the least bit better.

"I really should change my name, don't you think, Hedwig?" he addressed the owl with a smirk. "Change it to Harry Potter. Officially. Not just for the Order… I always did like aunt Lily and uncle James and the name seems to suit me. I also have my aunt's eyes, did you know, Hedwig? And surprisingly, my uncle's hair, although we don't share the same bloodline! I should be their son!"

Hedwig just hooted at him and he rolled his eyes.

"I _know_ I'm not" he said. "Well, back to Severus's essay. I wonder what he wants with it, I somehow doubt he wants just to amuse me. Oh, and I have a letter for you. Give it to Sirius, will you please?"

Hedwig stared after him as he walked to the desk, picked up an envelope and threw it towards her. She didn't realize what happened until the envelope hit her in the head.

"Sorry" Harry laughed as she hooted at him furiously. "Didn't know you weren't going to catch it. Oh, well, I'm going to sleep, 'k? Night, night"

Hedwig hooted angrily as Harry went to the bed, took his things off it and hid them under a loose floorboard under his bed. A loose floorboard he'd made himself one day.

"Get going!" he said towards his owl as she stared at him. "I need him to pick me up tomorrow and… you know how it is, don't you?"

The owl seemed to sigh as she spread her wings and flew away.

"Bloody bird" Harry said, though a smile was on his face. "Shouldn't have made her deliver so many letters today"

He hopped into bed and let his thoughts drift of to his favorite Professor, Severus Snape. Ever since he'd been accepted in the Order of Hogwarts –whatever a Hogwart was supposed to be…- Severus had always been around him, helping him with one thing or another. And what a day it had been, when his Aunt Lily and Uncle James had asked him if he wanted to join the Order!

The two had come to Dursley house for a short visit, to see everybody and well… Lily had taken him apart for a short while and she'd asked him the big question, the one that had changed his life forever.

"It's the time when you change school cycles, Harry. The perfect time to decide what you want to do with your life" she'd said.

"I'm only eleven!" Harry'd complained.

"I know" Lily'd smiled. "But I can feel you Harry… You are not like your parents or brother. You are a fighter. And you have a lot of potential. I want you to think my proposal over and over again, don't rush into a decision. Your Uncle and I are working for an Order, for Hogwarts. Our job is to make sure that everything in this world goes right. It's a very difficult and dangerous job and we deal with horrors that most people don't know… And should never know they exist until, maybe, far in the future, they will be prepared enough to see the truth"

"Are you fighting demons?" the eleven year-old Harry Dursley had asked and Lily had smiled sadly.

"Not quite… but things that are nearly as bad as they are. You can join us. Mind you, for the first few years you won't be doing much, but as you grow in age and skill, you could become a true warrior"

"Yeah! That'd be great!" Harry had grinned.

"The downside is, you can never tell anyone" Lily said. "Not your friends, not your parents, not even your brother. You will be schooled inside the Order… The Order's Founders have been very careful to arrange for everything to go well. Choose wisely, Harry. It's not only excitement, it's also danger… grave danger and many of us have died young while others have been scarred for life by what they've seen"

"I already made my decision" Harry'd replied. "I hate the world I live in. I hate my brother beating the hell out of me so much. Even if I die young, I want to be with you, Auntie"

Lily'd smiled sadly.

"What a decision it is for a child to make…" she'd whispered.

Harry stared at the ceiling. He'd never regretted and never, ever would regret he was in Hogwarts. The Order Headquarters were his second home and the others who were there and who grew up with him had quickly become his friends. And as for his parents and brothers… well… they would never know. Not what he was doing, not that he became a wizard.

Of course, it was only at the age of fifteen that he'd learnt that his aunt and uncle had performed tones of tests on him, some that he'd registered as games, others that they'd done to check his mind when he was at a very tender age, check his loyalty and courage and intelligence. The question had simply been the end of things. He didn't mind, though, to know he'd been heavily observed and measured as a kid. He knew that it had been done for every person in that Order.

And tomorrow, he'd take a ride to the HQs with Sirius, his Uncle's best friend. Home sweet home… and God, how he envied those with parents in the Order! They could stay there all the time, whereas Harry had to pretend he was being schooled. At least Lily and James had somehow managed to convince his parents to let them pay for their nephew's education and to send him to a 'very good private school'.


	3. Near the Intrigue!

**Disclaimer:** I own all the adventures, actions, etc. in this story. The characters belong mostly to Jo.

**Author:** zimagesto

Chapter two 

"Mum, Dad, Dudikinns, I'm going out!" Harry cried. He wore black pants with a white shirt and black boots and you could just _tell_ that he'd been careful about the way he dressed. He usually was. The matter of his black spiky, messy hair was solved by the casualty of his clothes. He had his bag over his shoulder and he'd just turned the doorknob, ready to go. The sun was shining brightly that morning, it was a perfect day to go out.

"Where do you think you're going!" Petunia asked, rushing out of the living room, definitely not pleased. "I thought I told you to stay inside! We've talked about this yesterday and the day before. You have no…"

"I've got a girl to please, mum" Harry said, smirking deviously. "Can't keep her waiting, now can I? Don't expect me for a few days, she's all alone."

"Harry!" she cried, outraged. "How _dare_ you! Come back here! Haven't we had a talk about this before? Son!"

"Sorry, mum" he said and went out the door.

"Harry!" she cried behind him and rushed towards him, but he'd closed the door behind him. She opened it and cried after her son, who was intentionally not hearing her. "You come back here, boy! You're not going anywhere, understand! Harry James Dursley!"

"Potter. Harry James _Potter_" Harry muttered to himself, but she didn't hear him. Now, where was Siri anyway? He was usually very punctual and Harry had always counted on that. He could hear his mother's steps right behind him and it was _not_ good.

"Harry!" she spat and he had to turn towards her, and realized he'd pushed it too far. "You're getting far too arrogant for your own good, son, and if you don't listen to me, you'll be in huge trouble soon!"

"Yeah, I know" he said very calmly. "Don't worry though, I'm safe, but I _should_ be going, ya know? Bye, mum, take care"

And with that he turned. Where the bloody hell was Sirius! If he wasn't there soon, he'd have to make a run for it. Which would not be too good for his dignity.

"Harry, you…" Petunia started, but Harry stopped paying attention as he heard the motorcycle he'd been waiting for rushing down the streets.

"There's my ride!" he said loudly enough for her to hear and, as soon as the two-wheeled vehicle made it on the street, he walked quickly towards it. It was very quick, but Sirius hit the breaks quite abruptly, somehow managing to stay on top of it, though. He smirked towards Petunia who had widened her eyes more than he'd ever thought possible and watched Harry jump behind him.

"Drive! Now!" the young man said and Sirius chuckled as Petunia started screaming behind them.

"Not you again! Bring my son back, biker! And stop teaching him all those…"

Sirius drove and the sounds of the engine covered her yells… Or did the yells stop because she was suddenly far away?

"Thanks, mate," Harry said loudly.

"No problem, glad to be of service, but what did you say to her? I haven't seen her fuming so bad since I nearly brought down your house."

"That I was out to please a girl."

Sirius laughed and Harry relaxed, feeling the warm air against his cheeks, running through his hair. He'd have to get a motorcycle also, this feeling was wonderful. They went at full speed down the streets and he wondered about the talk his mother would have with him soon. He'd been disguising nearly everything about his life outside Dursley residence as going out with his friends or with some girlfriend or another. Petunia was right to wonder what would become of her son in those circumstances, after all, Dudley was having the same problems. Well, as far as she was concerned, anyway. Harry was self-conscious enough not to drift down the path Dudley had taken.

The trip to the headquarters just outside of London was a short and uneventful one and Harry soon walked into the large building that was the upper part of the headquarters of the Order. The much larger lower part was underground and that was where most of the work was done. The Slytherins were all underground, as were some of the others, the upper part being saved for paperwork and low-importance, relaxing things, as well as the offices for their cover-up company, Ares Security. Their bodyguards and agents were well-known and well-paid. And usually Gryffindors.

Harry said goodbye to his godfather and went down the stairs towards the Slytherin side of the building. The underground was really an underground, sometimes going as low as twenty stories below and extendable so that if they ever needed more room, they could build it. Magic helped with that. But the level where Harry wanted to go in was Underground 5, where he had some rooms of his own and where he was sure he'd find Severus. The man usually brewed a potion or another in a lab on that level.

Surprisingly enough, the whole building was pleasant. With the help of magic, they'd added fake windows here and there, they'd placed plants and portraits (that _moved!_) and it looked much like the upper part of the building, with some exceptions.

He went down the stairs, not wanting to take the elevator, and ended up soon enough on the main corridor of Underground 5. There were people going around, Slyths and Ravenclaws mostly, since both had things to do around there. He walked past those people and nearly collided with a boy who didn't seem to look where he was going.

"Watch it, Slyth!" he said pompously.

Harry recognized him at once, he was a Gryffindor and not one of the nice ones. The redheaded, hotheaded Ron Weasley always picked a fight, Harry didn't know why. He shrugged and wanted to go past him, but Ron stopped him.

"What've you been up to lately, Dursley?"

"Call me Potter, please," Harry said coolly and looked around the lighted corridor. There was a small palm-tree at the end of it and he needed to reach the door just before it. Some sunlight came in through an opened window, looking very real. He looked at the redhead with boredom and sighed. "I've got to go, Weasley. See you around, maybe in class."

The classes were held in Underground 6 and were organized for any agent of the Order who wanted to learn anything, but mostly for children, teens and young adults who needed the courses to learn magic and some practical science. Ron and Harry were in the same age-category, but in different groups, Ron being a Gryff and Harry a Slyth.

"Yeah, see you then." Ron snorted and walked away. Harry sighed to himself and entered the room near the end of the corridor.

It was a small lab, clean, with a sink and a few tables around to prepare ingredients. The walls were a cream-ish color and the floor was made of white stone. Stone because if a potion went wrong, stone was the least likely to react to it and white because it suited the décor. Severus Snape was inside, brewing a potion in a small cauldron, humming to himself.

"Hello, Severus!" Harry greeted.

"Hello," the man replied without turning. Harry sat in one of the three chairs in the room and looked at the older man, who seemed concentrated.

"Wolfsbane?"

"Yes."

That was the only reply he got and Harry settled for waiting. The art of potion brewing required intelligence, patience and the power to pay attention, things which made sure there weren't too many potion-brewers out there. Harry knew for certain that he'd never become a potions master, he simply didn't have the attention span and the impossible patience.

He looked around the room, which seemed to be at about the fourth floor, if you looked at the sunlight coming through the window and felt the slight breeze. Wonderful, the magic. You could even look out the window and see a calming park. There was a door on one side of the room, leading to the ingredient storage. In case of a potion gone bad and starting to shoot out of the cauldron, it wouldn't be a good idea to have ingredients nearby to cause even more damage and strange reactions than necessary.

Severus turned from his cauldron and smiled at the raven-haired young man who sat on the chair.

"Decided to join us this fine Friday morning?"

"Yes, it's a pleasure, as always," Harry replied with a smirk. "So, how's the Wolfsbane? And how's the werewolf?"

"Lupin is alright, I'm afraid, but the potion is going well."

"Ah, good then," Harry replied, inwardly amused at the man's humor. "I brought you that essay about Wendelin the Weird, the Incredible Torch Woman!"

"How many times do I have to tell you to stop calling historical beings names, Potter?" Severus spat. After Harry had self-declared himself a Potter, Severus had humored him and started calling him that. Harry knew it was because the older man didn't want to hear anything about the Dursleys again (the teen _had_ driven him crazy with his stories about his annoying family).

"Ok," Harry sighed. "I'll just call her Wendelin then. So, what was it all about?"

"You should know, I thought you said you brought the essay."

"You know what I meant. Why did you tell me to write it in the first place?"

"Because that's what we're studying next. Spells to protect you from fire, wandless magic. It's not much use to be able to do them only with a wand."

"That sounds cool!" Harry grinned. "Can I learn how to conjure fire, too?"

"Later."

Harry pouted. Severus ignored him. Harry was just about to complain when the door opened and Lily's head stuck in.

"Hello, boys," she said and the rest of her body followed her in the room. "Nice to see you. How's the Wolfsbane potion, Remus is a bit worried…"

"Tell the wolf that, as usual, I can handle my own domain of expertise without people asking me from two to two seconds about it."

"Sorry," Lily said with a slight blush. "Well, actually, I came in for something different. Me and James will be away for awhile, we're going to check up on that Dark Lord Voldemort Albus was talking about."

"Voldemort," Severus snorted. "A strange and not even original name, there was a Voldemortist around sometimes in the Middle Ages, I believe…"

"Well, anyway, we're going to look upon him and his… Death Eaters, I believe he calls them."

"Be careful," Severus said and Harry's eyes jumped open. For once, the Head of Slytherin was not cold and sarcastic, but actually concerned. Lily smiled at Severus with a closeness and warmth that made Harry feel a bit uncomfortable, as if he were interfering upon something.

"I'll be ok," she answered. "James might be a hothead sometimes, but he's very good at what we do, so we'll be fine."

"Be very careful nevertheless," Severus replied and she smiled again at him, then caught him in a half-embrace and kissed him in the left corner of his lips.

"We will," she answered.

She let go of Severus and turned towards Harry. She said a goodbye, then went out and shut the door behind him, leaving the young man to stare suspiciously at his unofficial mentor.

"Are you two…?" he started and Severus gave him a calm look.

"No. Yes. Maybe. But please don't mention it to James. She will tell him whatever he needs to know."

"Maybe?" Harry asked and the other man sighed.

"There is a certain comfort between us, I am sure you noticed it. Not love, she keeps most of it for that idiot she calls her husband, but I shan't lie and say that there is nothing between me and her in some way. If you ask me if we are lovers, then no, we are not. Haven't been since before she went out on her first date with James."

"Then…"

"Leave it, Harry. You'll understand someday. Maybe."

Harry's eyes watched the other man, who added the last ingredients to the Wolfsbane, then took it off the flame and cast a cooling spell with his elegant black wand. He then covered it with something and left for Lupin's place. Harry relaxed against the chair and stared at the ceiling. Well, he wasn't about to pry into the two's lives, so he'd leave it at that. So, concentrate on something else… how about the fire-lessons?

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Thanks to those who reviewed:-D Please do so again :-) It's very appreciated. I'd write a response to your reviews, but won't permit it…

So, thanks to: serena23, donstu82 and Butterfle :blows kisses:


	4. The Intrigue Itself!

**Disclaimer:** I own all the adventures, actions, etc. in this story. The characters belong mostly to Jo.

**Author:** zimagesto

**Author's Note: **Don't play hero unless you're capable of being a martyr, but not willing to be one.

**Author's Note 2: **I may have forgotten to mention Harry's age. He's 17.

**Author's Note 3: **Do not assume that characters who aren't mentioned are naturally in the Order. They may not be.

Chapter Three 

(Read the author notes. Last two at least).

Harry grinned his most bright and charming grin.

"Why, of course not, Professor McGonagall. Would I _ever_ do that?"

The Slytherins snickered and the Gryffindors growled. They were having Transfiguration lessons in Underground 6 with the infamous catwoman (they'd just hat lessons with batman, too! Man, Snape could be such a… Never mind). The elder, stern woman with square glasses narrowed her eyes at the young man in front of her.

The room was very much bare except for chairs and tables and some objects on each table that seemed to be either normal or in the process of being transfigured. Most of them were dolls, the others were palm-trees.

"What was that spell you cast behind my back, Harry?" McGonagall asked, _not_ amused and deciding that asking the boy _if_ he did it was not the best approach. "It better not be something destructive."

"I have no clue what spell you're talking about, Professor," Harry said, batting his eyelashes innocently.

"Dur-Pott-Harry, don't deny it, I…"

Well, actually, there had been more than one spell, too bad McGonagall had seen the next to last one, now what was he to do? But then the Professor sighed and shook her head. She had dealt with the infamous Harry stubbornness before and knew she had next to no chances of having him confess… besides, he _was_ a good student, so if anything visible would happen, she'd just put him in detention (the Underground 6 corridor needed a good cleanup anyway).

"Very well. Back to work!" she said and turned towards her desk. And then she saw a spell zip by. She turned towards Harry, this time pissed and his lips started quirking slightly. "Harry James Dursley Potter!" she said, ready to charge at him.

Voices from her desk stopped her, though and made her stare, just in time for Harry to cast another spell.

The dolls on her desk had gotten up on their feet and started singing in unison, dancing in a nice circly pattern.

"It's the hard knock Life for us! It's the hard knock life for us! 'Steada played with we get charmed! 'Steada kisses… we get harmed!"

The dolls dropped to their knees and some instruments were heard. Harry grinned. Ron glared. A Gryffindor bookworm that hadn't ended up in Ravenclaw for some reason or another seemed angry with Harry. The Slytherins and the Gryffindors who weren't anti-Slyths laughed.

The dolls continued their dancing around and Harry smiled widely to himself. Yes, indeed, this idea was one of the best he'd ever had. Dancing dolls on McGonagall's desk, begging for a more human treatment… If they weren't dolls, they'd have made everybody actually consider laying off them. But of course, they were just dolls, so giving them a break wouldn't mean too much.

When they finished, McGonagall turned to him thoughtfully and said:

"A wonderful piece of magical animation, Harry. But you should never do it again in my classes. You have a detention today and you will clean the corridors on Underground 6 magically so well that anybody can eat right off the floor."

"Yes, ma'am," Harry replied, having the decency to look the least bit humble.

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"I can't believe you did that!" Pansy said, grinning. "It was _excellent_, did you see the look on her face? Oh, and the song was soooo touching, made me feel sorry for all the bad transfigurations I've done!"

Harry grinned charmingly at the blonde Slyth. They were just getting out of McGonagall's class and, if everything went well, he'd have a date for tonight. He just opened his mouth to pop up an invitation when Hermione Granger stopped next to him.

"How could you do that, interrupting classes like that?" she demanded.

"Well, I'd say it was very brilliant of me, you see," Harry started. "First I used charms to determine what the dolls would do, and those would be triggered by an extra charm so that they'd be well tuned to each other and…"

"That is _not _what I meant and you know it," Hermione spat. "Professor McGonagall is probably fed up by now with your _childish_ games, it's about time you started taking things seriously!"

Harry pouted and gave her a puppy-eyed look.

"But I am…"

She rolled her eyes and sighed.

"Listen here, Dursley…"

"Potter."

"Huh?"

"I don't particularly like my parents and I resemble my aunt and uncle better. Call me Potter."

"Fine, _Potter_, you should stop these things and stop fooling around! What we do here is crucial for most of human kind and these things are not to be taken lightly!"

"And not too seriously either, I think, but I can see that you don't agree," Harry replied. "Now go, before I decide to put an Imperius on you so that you kiss Severus Snape next Potions class."

"That's illegal!" she said, horrified.

"And that should stop me… _why_?" Harry asked and Pansy giggled. "Yes, I know the punishments, so don't bother. And Granger, since Hogwarts doesn't exist, and magic doesn't exist, there is no law to forbid using Imperius."

"You know what I mean," she spat and left, leaving Harry and Pansy behind, laughing.

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Defense Against the Dark Arts, the most wonderful subject in Harry's opinion, was taught by Remus Lupin, a nice werewolf, friend with Sirius and James Potter. Werewolves weren't a problem for anybody here, except for the night of the full moon, when Lupin willingly went down to Underground 15, so some of the very trained agents of the Order could study him. Well, he wasn't too pleased about having wizards monitor the transformation all the time and check to see if anything from his human body remained while he was transformed. Basically, they'd measured him in human shape many more times than he cared to remember, then in werewolf shape, colored his eyes to see if anything changed while he transformed (yes, the eye color was partially transferred), they albino-ed him to see if the wolf would be white (yes), they gave him a giggling potion before transformation and checked to see if it had any effect on the wolf (nope) and tried to give him a tattoo to see if it was transferred, but that's where Lupin said stop.

He was an ok fellow, smart and kind and ready to explain everything to the students, who generally respected him. He had an obsession for dark magical creatures and brought as many types to class as he could (or brought the class to the creatures, that could always happen). The obsession was explainable, of course, due to being a dark creature himself.

"Well, tonight's the full moon, so please don't search for me," Remus said, smiling kindly. "Unless you want to be a werewolf. But trust me, you don't, those scientists in Underground 15 are quite annoying… well, there's also the excruciating pain you experience when transforming and feeling bad around the full moon, won't tell you about the migraines I have right now, but they are nothing compared to having them poke you with iron spears to see how badly you are harmed next morning, trust me."

"They actually did that, Professor?" Pansy asked.

"Well, yes… blamed it on scientific research, you see."

"Ouch," Harry muttered, and then spoke up. "So, what did they discover, Professor?"

"Well, you see, they did have some effect, but apparently my body tried to heal itself during the transformation, after all, it healing was also a type of transformation… But I don't want to know what would happen if they tried giving me rabies, they mentioned it, I told them that if they ever tried it I'd turn them into werewolves too, and bring other scientists… That calmed them down."

"And what about the distinctive signs of each werewolf-"

The door opened and everybody turned to see the person who did it. Harry paused in mid-speech and looked at the new man curiously. It was Severus.

"Lupin, I need to borrow one of your students," the dark haired man said gravely.

"Which one?"

"Harry."

Harry stared.

"Very well, but don't take him away forever, I have some important lessons to teach these days."

"Of course."

Harry stared again. Severus Snape, being polite, without sarcasm and grave? Something was wrong. Very wrong. He got up and, at a sign of Severus's gathered his things. After that he followed his mentor through the door.

"What happened?" he asked after the door closed behind him and they went on their way to the stairs. "And don't you have class now?"

"It's about Lily and James," he said and Harry stopped in his tracks. Severus stopped too and turned towards his young pupil, looking worn out.

"Are they… alive, Severus?" he whispered.

"Yes," the older man nodded gravely. "But apparently Voldemort is much more powerful than we'd expected. We never knew… We never knew many things about him Harry, it was only when Shacklebolt returned from the mission alone that we found out that Voldemort is nearly as powerful as Dumbledore and that he was a leader in Azkaban."

"Azkaban!" Harry asked, eyes widened. "That dark world!"

"Yes. That is where your aunt and uncle are. That is where Voldemort's actual headquarters are. Come."

Harry followed Severus as if in a trance, walking up the stairs and into the older man quarters and lying down on the couch, staring blankly at the ceiling. Azkaban… Azkaban… That place was a different world, a dark world, full of strange creatures. At one point, it had been a prison used by elves, dwarves and other creatures that the Order knew well now. Actually, not the whole world had been a prison, just the Maze had been one and an extremely well designed one, too. The short number of portals back to the original worlds were outside it and they made it nearly impossible for prisoners to escape back where they'd come from. The darkness of the world was a depressing one.

And the Maze… A huge maze built of thick, tall walls of stone that even giants found too high to climb over. The elves designed it, the dwarfs built it, the dark elves guarded it, many creatures used it and then they all abandoned it. Why?… nobody really knew. The prisoners sentenced to life-imprisonment remained on the worlds they'd been sentenced on, maybe so that they could be found again and taken care of so they would not die too soon. The Maze was slowly abandoned and the dark elves moved away from it, leaving it to itself. The gates were left open, so that the world of Azkaban could reclaim the territory, but the hard walls of pure dwarfish stone were too great and hard to be brought down. So, a territory maybe as large as an entire country (a country like Germany or UK, not like Vatican) was one of the strangest things ever to be found in any world… at least that was what Harry had heard. There were no pictures of Azkaban or the Maze, there were no paintings, no drawings, there were just stories about dementors and hippogriffs and thestrals and large dark trees that grew inside the Maze (making some wonder just how large the corridors in it were), about strange creatures that came from God-knew-where and settled between the walls… They said it was a place that was as deadly as a rampaging dragon, that some things were more poisonous than cobras and scorpions combined, that there were things there that could hurt you more than you could imagine…

"Please tell me that they're not in the Maze, Severus."

"They are."

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AN: Ok, I've finished this chapter and soon we'll be moving on to the very exciting part:-D.

Reviewing is very much appreciated, flaming is also appreciated, and telling me about any random thing that crosses your mind is extremely appreciated!

Thanks to those who reviewed: Lady-Serena-Snape, donstu82.


	5. Fun Begins Here

**Disclaimer:** I own all the adventures, actions, etc. in this story. The characters belong mostly to Jo.

**Author:** zimagesto

**Author's Note: **Things in life don't usually turn out the way we believe they will. Actually, if they have just two ways of turning out and we choose one of them as being probable, they will turn out in the third way.

Chapter Four 

"Let the boy stay, Albus."

The chamber was grim, even if sunlight was gently pouring through the window. All the grown-ups were sitting down around a light brown table that was now covered in maps and books. Dumbledore was sitting on his chair at the head of the table, looking around gravely. Severus was at his right, looking tiredly at Harry, who was the only one standing in the room. Harry was half-glaring at McGonagall, the Head of Gryffindor, who was glaring back. Next to her, at her left, sat Sirius and Remus. She was on Dumbledore's side also. A bit lower down the table sat Flitwick and Sprout, who looked a bit curiously at Harry.

There were other people in the room also, there was Kingsley Shacklebolt and next to him were Laetius Lovegood and Nymphadora Tonks. Peter Pettigrew was a bit lower down the table, looking fidgety. There were others, who Harry didn't know quite as well and none were too pleased by his being there.

"He has no point being here, Albus!" McGonagall said. "This is a meeting of war! I do not want him running around, trying to join the rescue team!"

"I won't, Professor," Harry sighed. "I wish to stay because Lily and James are like parents to me."

"Let the boy stay, Albus. What harm is there?" Snape asked in his silky voice. "He will pester all of us for information afterwards if we don't let him."

"Very well, stay, Harry." Albus decided and conjured the young man a chair. "So, Kingsley. Tell us what you found out."

"Voldemort has two entrances to Azkaban. One of them is in the place Lily and James were caught and it leads to the entrance of the Maze. The other leads to his quarters in the Maze, but we don't know where it is located in this world."

"So we'll have to go to the one to the entrance of the Maze," Sirius sighed. "I was afraid of that."

"Umm?" Harry said and many eyes turned towards him. "Why don't we contact the elves for some help? Maybe they can lead us through the Maze to Voldemort's quarters or at least show us an entrance close to them."

"We would do that," Severus said. "We tried it. But the elves and dwarves don't have any closer entrances –well, actually, they only have entrances only at the gates of the Maze- and don't know where the quarters are. They also made it clear that they will not aid us. We do not take it personally. The dark elves though are said to know things from inside the Maze even now."

"So?" Harry asked after a moment of pause. "Why don't we ask for their help?"

There was another moment of pause, and then, when it became clear that nobody was going to say anything, Severus sighed and started speaking again.

"There is nobody here to dare side with them, Harry. The humans, the elves and the dwarves may have things in common, although it becomes clear quickly that we are very different, but the dark elves… there is no human or dwarf who feels comfortable in their presence. The elves are alright with them, they are as brothers, but… We cannot have the same ease around them… We cannot accept any help from them."

"Because you are scared of them?"

"If you ever meet one of them, you shall know why, Harry," Severus said sternly. "Bringing the dark elves into this is not in the question."

"Alright, then."

"About what is _in_ the Maze, then." Flitwick said. "There are many types of dark creatures and plants. The plants will not bother us too much, unless anybody tries to eat them or stings himself with a poisonous thorn… Although I heard there are a few plants that are carnivorous and will try to take a bite out of the occasional traveler. The creatures are much more dangerous, from what I have understood. There are the Dementors of Azkaban, some lethal creatures that are very difficultly repelled by a complicated charm, "Expecto Patronum", that requires the one who casts it to think of an extremely powerful happy thought while casting the spell. Unfortunately, said creatures tend to suck all happiness away. There also happen to be hippogriffs, a few wild ones from the lands of the elves, brought long before, escaped into the wild and bred there. And also wild thestrals, from the lands of the dark elves. There are giant spiders and other such creatures, but there are many things that we know nearly nothing about."

"Has anybody been there for the last few hundred years?" McGonagall asked.

"Not many," Dumbledore sighed. "Not humans. There has been an agent of ours fifty years ago, two agents twenty years before that… Only one of the two returned. We don't have many records, they were there for short periods of time only."

"So, we basically have little," Severus nodded. "We know the history, we know it is a deadly place and we know little else."

"So, in our team we will finally have Severus Snape, Sirius Black, Remus Lupin, Nymphadora Tonks and Angelina Johnson."

Harry looked around to see who Angelina Johnson was –he always mistook her for Katie Bell, not because they looked alike, but because they usually traveled in a pair and everybody whom he asked told him the two were, of course, Katie Bell and Angelina Johnson. But which was which, nobody told him that. Not that he'd ever asked.

"Angelina is young," McGonagall pointed out.

"So am I," Tonks replied. "Well, a bit older than her, yes, but we're about the same age."

"Tonks is a metamorphmagus and good at sneaking around and Angelina is very good with fighting skills," Severus said. "They are coming. A team of five, we hope, is enough to rescue Lily and James. If it isn't enough… Well, we can't have too many. The more, the bigger the target and the elves did warn us that it would be wise to travel in small numbers and have the people prepared for the worst."

"C-could I come?" Pettigrew asked, stuttering slightly. "Lily and James have been my friends since… since forever and Sirius and Remus are going, too…"

"Are you sure?" Remus asked his old comrade. "You are not as well-prepared as…"

"I can handle it, Remus. I need to do this," Pettigrew answered, squirming.

"You don't need to if you don't want to. And it would be better if you didn't come anyway, there is nothing to prove…"

"I need to come," the rat-like man sniffed. "I must. You do not understand, I have a great role to play in this, I can feel it."

Harry stared at his uncle's friend. He'd never really liked him, he was a bit of a coward, even if he was a Gryffindor. Harry didn't really see what was so great about Peter Pettigrew, but if his uncle trusted him and Dumbledore trusted him and everybody seemed to trust him –even if they didn't think much of any of his skills or personality-, then he'd make an effort and try to trust him, too. Right now, he did seem very agitated, but he also appeared to be telling the truth. Dumbledore lowered his glasses and looked fixedly at Peter, who seemed to be begging. Finally, the old man put his glasses back on and sighed.

"Very well, Peter. You will go also. You will leave the day after tomorrow and try to rescue James and Lily Potter."

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The room was somber. The ones who would leave in Azkaban were there, along with three others who would bid them farewell and wish them a safe return – or rather, to return at all. Harry, Ron and Hermione were watching the team get ready to leave and, although they didn't usually get along very well, they settled to a truce of ignoring each other and concentrating on those who were leaving.

"See you soon, then," Ron said and Peter grinned at him a grin that held no humor or happiness.

"Yes, yes, soon!" he fidgeted.

"Goodbye, Angelina," Hermione said, hugging her friend. "Be safe!"

Harry watched the two say farewell to the others and then shared a look with Snape. The older man's dark eyes lingered on the boy for a few minutes before they both nodded in farewell. It did not take more than that for the message to be passed between them and to be understood. Harry felt for the small vial of smoke-making potion, the last potion he'd made and sighed thinking that Severus had not yet had the chance to see it. The older man would have been proud: it was perfect. But now the vial would have to wait… Harry sighed to himself. In the meantime he would get a lot of practice… he swore he would.

"Bye, Harry," Sirius said, hugging Harry. "Take care and don't kill your parents while I'm gone!"

Harry smiled palely at the attempt to lighten his mood and tried to return it.

"Don't bring down the Maze, who knows when the elves will need it?…"

Unfortunately, nobody was in the mood for laughing.

"All together now, we must touch this portkey!" Peter Pettigrew said and everybody gathered around.

"Bye…" Harry whispered weakly. Then, the portkey was activated and all disappeared.

He was shocked out of his mind for a few moments, seeing the world flashing before his eyes in a blur of colors, soundless, yet deafening. After that, he realized with horror that he was traveling along with the rescue group and Ron and Hermione. It would not be until later that he would understand that the portkey had not been one designed in the normal way, but one that captured every living being on a radius of a few minutes and sent it to the destination. And only much later would he find out that in fact Voldemort had designed the portkey himself, while trying to get a hold of Dumbledore.

Right now, though, after a ride that seemed incredibly long, he ended up on a stone floor and his feet flew from beneath him, bringing him crashing down. The momentum had been very large and he could see that the others were also trying to disentangle themselves. And he also noticed that Pettigrew had taken his wand out, a bit too quickly maybe, and was stunning those around him.

A cold voice gave a signal for attack and Harry sprang to his feet, wand in hand, his training suddenly manifesting itself. He took in everything in record time, seeing that there were black-cloaked people attacking the rescue team and who were also starting to attack the three teens.

"Oh, shit," he muttered and looked for a way out. The rescue team had emergency portkeys towards various safe-places, but he sure as hell didn't have any!

"We must go forward!" Angelina shouted.

"Too many! Retreat!" Sirius shouted back.

Nymphadora Tonks jumped towards the three teens, seeing them when none others did, ready to share the portkey with them. Ron and Hermione rushed towards her and Harry searched for a way out of the room, so he could find the portal –or "window"- towards the other world and save his aunt and uncle, since it could be the only shot to see them again, unless this Dark Lord wanted them for some other plan of his.

He soon saw it and used a quick spell to open it, while erecting shields against curses now directed at him.

"Harry!" Tonks cried.

The other rescue team members disappeared. And then Voldemort used a spell to cut out all possibility of escaping through means of portkey. He ran towards Tonks, grabbed her hand and could see she had tears of fear in her eyes. And then he felt for the smoke-making potion he still had and soon got it out of his pocket. He threw it towards Voldemort and the self-named Dark Lord raised his wand and laughed darkly, shooting down the vial and making it break into a million pieces. Which suited Harry even better than the idea of just throwing it in Voldemort's general direction.

"Quick!" he whispered and dragged Tonks after him, as Voldemort cursed and urged his minions through the smoke towards them. He hoped she'd had the sense to drag Hermione and Ron behind. But if she didn't… they'd be mourned later. Now was the time to run. He reached the door and threw himself through it, closing it after the last person was out. Some smoke had got out, but it was nowhere near as dense here. He then looked around and saw that he could either go left or right on the corridor. For some reason, he chose right and started running in that direction. Ron and Hermione were being dragged by Tonks, which was a very good thing.

"Do you know where we're going?" Tonks asked, a bit out of breath.

"I have no clue!" Harry answered. "Did Pettigrew betray us?…"

"He did. Damned bastard!" Tonks swore.

"Never mind, we need to run!"

They tried a few doors in their way, then climbed some stairs. "Which is good", Harry said. "The worst thing that could happen would be to wind up in a tower, but we can levitate down."

They went up, ended up on another corridor, opened a few doors searching for windows and… Harry gaped when he entered a room. There was a strange stone arch in there, engraved with runes, with a six-point-star shaped base and with a blue swirling sort of fluid in an oval shape inside the arch. It was a bit like a vortex, with fluid swirling around slowly in it.

"It's the entrance to Azkaban!" Harry breathed.

"How do you know?" Hermione asked.

"What else could it be?"

Harry circled it slowly and saw it looked the same from behind and sides. He then turned towards the other three with a strange look in his eyes.

"I'm going through."

"Isn't that stupid?" Ron asked, looking at the fluid with distrust.

"Probably. But I'm going through anyway."

"I'm with you," Tonks sighed. "This is not the team I thought it'd be, but come on! Before they find us!"

Ron and Hermione never had a chance to comment as they were pushed through the arch by the two. And running up the stairs was Voldemort with one of his minions, who were still searching for the ones who'd escaped. He wouldn't realize too soon that somebody had passed through his arch. And when he would realize it, it would be too late.

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Sirius had portkeyed to his own safe spot, a small church near a monastery in England. It was a sad and gloomy place, but it suited his mood. The others had other safe places, so that it would be much more difficult for somebody to find the havens and ambush all of them. And he wanted to be alone anyway.

He walked towards a small icon and sat in front of it without realizing what he was doing. He held his head in his hands and gave a long sigh. He'd heard Voldemort shout out the spell. He knew that the four would probably be trapped there.

He shifted so his long black robe would let him kneel better and put his head back in his hands. They were trapped there.

"Aw, man…" he said in a painful way.

"Amen indeed, brother," he heard and turned his head to see an absent-minded black-robed monk walk past him.

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AN: Sorry for the long wait! Didn't mean to keep you so long, but hey! You don't mind, do you?

Thanks to my wonderful reviewers: aperfectattitude, donstu82, Butterfle, Hunter0309, Lady-Serena-Snape


	6. Entering the infamous Maze

**Disclaimer:** I own all the adventures, actions, etc. in this story. The characters belong mostly to Jo.

**Author:** zimagesto

**Author's Note: **People are not born stupid. They are made that way by education – Mark Twain.

**Author's Note 2: ** Sorry for the very, very long wait, guys. I'm kinda busy lately, there's this horrible, spiteful thing called school and it's been very keen on killing me with preparing for my exams.

**Author's Note 3: **Before I forget. I've re-read some of my older chapters and decided that, well, you can see English isn't my native language. Is there anybody out there who wants to be my beta?…

Chapter Five 

Harry stared. And stared. And stared some more.

The place was creepy, in a dark, end-of-the-world sort of way. The sky was red, the sun obviously setting. In front of them, there was a large field with brown grass that ended a mile or so away to leave place to bushes… and then to a creepy forest.

And then, he turned. And realized that the staring before had been for nothing, as the dark-reddish color of everything was no match to the surprise of seeing the outer part of the maze.

The walls were so large they could hardly be called walls at all. The Great Chinese Wall could hardly compare with the endless dark gray monsters of architecture that were in front of them. Perhaps twenty stories high, extending from one horizon to the other and as far as a mile away from them. To say that they were impressive was an understatement. And right in front of the four, half open, were the gates of the maze, two black things that were as tall as the walls and as wide as they were tall.

"Who built this, again?" Harry asked, slowly, staring.

"The dwarves. But it is said that the dark elves aided them," Tonks replied, just as startled.

"Remind me again, how big are the dwarves and elves?"

"Not_ that_ big."

They stared some more, before Harry sighed.

"We should be going in, shouldn't we?…"

"Yeah," Tonks agreed.

"What!" Hermione said in such a desperate voice that the other three stared at her. "How are we going to find Lily and James, never mind getting them back?"

"We'll think about that later. If you can, figure it out," the metamorphmagus replied.

They approached the gates carefully. Harry wondered how they'd be able to find safe havens from place to place to rest. They probably wouldn't.

When they got to the gates, they were surprised to see that the gates were not smooth metal, as they'd appeared to be, but they were sculpted with scenes in real-life images.

"Look!" Hermione said, pointing towards an image. "The dwarves, breaking up boulders… It appears the elves were levitating them to place. It's the history of the Maze! And look, here! Oh, gods, look!"

She was in complete admiration over a sculpture and Harry had to admit she had a reason to be that way: it showed a man of otherworldly beauty, an elf, with a hand on a dragon's head and the other producing flames. It wasn't so much as the theme of the sculpture that amazed, it was the terrible look of the elf, who seemed very much alive. He seemed to watch the four humans with a strange look in his eyes, to gaze into their very souls. And he was frightening.

"I think he's a dark elf," Tonks said slowly. "I can't be sure, though. They look very much like the other elves."

It seemed that the entire gates, up and sides, were carved with sculptures that seemed to half-come out of the background. They were beautiful and Hermione remembered that it had been the elves who had created them. (God knew where she found those things or how she managed to remember them. Walking encyclopedia, she was).

The gates were very thick, but that was to be expected. The walls, were thicker. Let's just say that unless you had quite a few canons and a great determination, it would've seemed near-impossible to break through them even if they'd been made of normal stone. But this stone seemed of the stronger, harder type and you could only see hair-thin lines where two blocks were brought together. It seemed amazing that somebody believed that nature would reclaim the territory. Well, maybe in a few thousand years.

The Maze begun simply, like a huge corridor. Only small, dark grass covered the floor. And then, the vegetation gradually increased, becoming a forest far away in the distance. As the four entered, they somehow expected the large gates to shut behind them with a huge bang, trapping them inside. But they never did, remaining there silently, somehow more threatening than if they'd snapped closed.

Harry noticed it was very quiet. No birds, no bees, no animals. Nothing. It was odd, considering that the vegetation was there and on earth where you find plants you usually find animals. But then again, that wasn't earth. Perhaps everything had different rules there.

"I wonder what it would've been like to come here with the original group," Tonks mused in a quiet voice. "I feel as if my back would be uncovered."

"I know what you mean," Harry whispered, almost afraid to break the silence. "It would be great to have Sev here."

"Wouldn't it be horrible if there were spiders here?" Ron asked, shivering.

There was a moment of quietness and then Harry burst out laughing.

"Spiders! I think we'll meet things worse than spiders here!"

"I hate spiders," Ron said, not paying attention. "I really, really hate spiders."

They entered the quiet in-maze forest. Apparently, there was a pattern in this world, for everything seemed dark and gloomy. And silent. Very, very silent.

"What is so frightening about the dark elves?" Harry ventured after awhile of walking through the place. "Nobody told me clearly."

"I've never met one personally," Tonks replied. "But I heard that they deal with forces that make no man comfortable around them. Such as death and sexuality."

"I can hardly see why the sexual part would be such a problem," Ron muttered.

"Can't say I can either," Tonks answered. "I wonder if they still come around here. There are some who say they do, there are others who say they don't. Do you think it would be a good thing for them to be here or not?"

"Yes, it would. Out of what I heard, they aren't likely to attack humans, but they rather side with us," Hermione said. "And I think-AAAAH!"

The other three jumped to sides as Hermione was lifted into the air by one long vine that had circled itself around her leg. The girl started screaming and Harry and Tonks quickly jumped into action, shooting at the plant with whatever they could. The vine seemed injured by both a fire spell and a cutting spell and dropped Hermione down. Luckily, Tonks reacted in time and levitated her softly to earth.

"Oh my God, oh my God, it could've killed me!" the girl sobbed, terrified. "Oh God, oh God…"

"That's what you get for messing with my friend, yeah!" Ron cried after the retreating injured vine. "Are you ok?" he asked her.

"I'm... I'm… it could've killed me!" Hermione stuttered.

"Pick yourself together," Harry told her gently and put an arm around her. "Hush. Good, let's start moving again. We can't stop, you know that."

"Right, right…" she nodded and they started walking again.

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A few hours later, nothing else had happened. Well, nothing life-threatening. They just reached a fork in the corridors and decided on a direction, praying that it would be good.

"Wish we had a map of this place," Ron muttered. "And I wish I knew why this Maze is so bad-famed. I mean, besides its creepiness and that vine…"

"Are you sure you'd like to know exactly what's so threatening about it?" Harry asked, smiling humorlessly.

"Second thought – no, I don't," the redhead decided. "Hey, Potter, listen. Truce for now?"

"I thought it was already a truce?"

"Well, let's make it official."

"Fine, official truce it is," Harry said, shaking his head inwardly. It seemed somehow dumb to be asking for a truce then. Childish fights meant nothing compared to the situation at hand.

"What's that?" Hermione asked.

"What's what?"

"That… the black thing?"

The others looked very carefully at where she was pointing and saw something black moving amidst the shadows of the forest. Tonks reached for her wand and the others followed suit – it seemed like a wise thing to do. The thing in the shadows moved a bit more, and then seemed to stop.

"Maybe it's just an illusion?" Ron suggested, lowering his wand.

"Better prepared for nothing than killed for not being attentive," Tonks said slowly. "Although it seems still. Maybe it's one of those thestrals… the dark elf horses."

The thing moved again, ever so slowly… They watched it make a step now and again, slowly, stopping for some time, then moving again.

"Should we go forward?" Harry wondered.

"Maybe…" Tonks said. "Just getting away from it would be a good idea."

"Ok, everybody, slowly forward," Harry said.

They carefully took a few steps and saw that the black thing took no notice of them.

"It's ok," Harry said, relieved. "Ok, let's go!"

And then there was a scream. A loud, frightened, high-pitched scream. Harry jumped in fear in surprise and looked at the one who was screaming. It was Ron. He was as white as a sheet and seemed frozen in spot. His hair was standing on its ends and he screamed like no tomorrow. And then, Hermione's scream joined his:

"SPIDERS!"

Harry turned to see spiders as large as cars, and larger, rushing their way at an incredible speed, crawling over trees and bushes as if nothing could stand in their way.

"RUN!"

Harry grabbed Ron's arm and started running. Luckily, the other remembered quickly enough how to use his legs and they sprinted at a speed that they'd never reached before back towards where they'd come.

The deafening roar of the spiders running behind them, combined with their pounding hearts and the clanks of the spiders' jaws seemed to be the worst thing they'd ever heard. And they just ran, and ran, and ran, ignoring the exhaustion that was slowly and surely coming over them. The trees around them seemed to be a blur… but a clearer and clearer blur. And the horrible roar was closer and closer to them.

After what seemed like forever, Tonks stopped and, panting, started shooting spells. The others stopped also and Harry paled.

"There's hundreds of them…" he whispered, but he also readied his wand.

It was desperate. The spiders seemed like a sea, crawling over everything, tireless, clanking their jaws and rushing towards them with a lethal speed. Nevertheless, they all shot spells. Fire spells, exploding spells, killing spells… And the spiders fell one by one. But alas, there were hundreds of them and they didn't stop to mourn the fallen, instead rushing over the dead to reach the humans.

And when they were impossibly close, they suddenly slowed down, stopped, then turned and ran the other way.

"What the-?" Harry said, and then turned.

A huge snake was coming from the other side, maybe as long as sixty meters, as thick as he was tall. It slithered towards them slowly, taking its time and Harry felt the exhaustion creeping on him. What a dumb place. Get yourself chased by spiders, then by snakes… He felt himself starting to shake and then he burst into laughter, the maniacal type. He noticed the others looking at him with horrified expressions, but he just couldn't stop. He fell on his knees, laughing.

"A basilisk!" he cried out. "A basilisk! Somebody shoot me! Why am I not dead yet?"

Indeed, the basilisk stared him in the eyes and he felt himself become dizzier and dizzier, and then he lost all consciousness.

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"Maybe they're ok," Sirius said hopefully towards the gathered people. "Maybe they'll be ok."

"The place is deadly, Black, as you well know," Severus said in a dark, sarcastic manner. He was very much concerned about the teens, but showed it by being even more of a bastard than usual.

"Perhaps…" Remus said and eyes turned towards him. "Perhaps… We should ask for help. Ask the elves to get us to the entrance of the Maze. And then we could go after them. A rescue party."

"And who will rescue the rescue party?" Minerva sighed, holding her head in her hands. "The rescue team would have to survive, find them, and then they'd have to get Lily and James, survive again and then come out."

The sound of a bell attracted all attention.

"The elves," Albus said, raising his head hopefully.

A female elf entered the room. She was tall, beautiful, serene, as most of her kind were. She had a certain softness and peace around her that also seemed to belong to her kind.

"Good day," she said with a soft bow. "I am here on behalf of the elves, to question upon the matter of your expedition in the Maze. How has it begun?"

"Badly," Sirius said and her eyes snapped on him.

"Oh? Were you not supposed to go with them?"

"I was," Sirius admitted. "But things went wrong and apparently three teenagers and Tonks are now in the Maze – if they made it there indeed. But we believe they have. Could you help them?… We're willing to pay and…"

"We cannot," the female elf said sternly. "We told you that. But… I am sorry. Perhaps all will be well. All things happen with a purpose, even accidents of the direst kind. However, I came with good news."

"Which is that?" Sirius asked, darkly.

"There are dark elves in the Maze. They do not know of what has occurred, of course, as the ones of the neledhrin – I am sorry, the ones of the dark elves that were told of this did not see it important to announce the ones in the Maze about this since you requested no help. But there are dark elves in the Maze, as well as a few others who could help your friends on their quest. That was what I came to tell you and now I shall go, if there is nothing more to be said."

"No, nothing more," Albus sighed. "Thank you."

The female elf left.

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Thanks to: donstu82, Adnexus, the Red Dragons Order:::blows kisses:


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